Day Two: Research panel Energy consumers and the future

The future of the energy system is expected to be one in which the consumer is involved to a much greater degree, both as a ‘prosumer’ of energy and where decisions about energy demand and supply by consumers are an integral part of the energy system and the sustainability of its future operation. This research panel will explore the latest research on these issues, including the importance of data and consumer feedback, as well as unpacking consumer preferences and the possibilities provided by digital futures, including how emerging lifestyle trends likely to impact future energy demand. The role of pricing and the social and technical opportunities and barriers provided by decentralised energy resources and microgrids will be explored by this panel of leading inter-disciplinary researchers.

Yolande Strengers

Professor of Digital Technology and Society, Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University

Yolande Strengers is a Professor of Digital Technology and Society at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab where she leads the Energy Futures research program. She is an Associate Director – Consumers, of the Monash Energy Institute, and Associate Dean –Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of IT. She is author of The Smart Wife (MIT Press 2020, with Dr Jenny Kennedy) and Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan 2013).

Iain MacGill

Professor and Joint Director (Engineering), Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets, UNSW Sydney

Dr Iain MacGill is a Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of New South Wales, and Joint Director (Engineering) for the University’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM). He leads work in Energy Transformation and Distributed energy systems. Iain is the Responsible Australian Expert on the International Energy Agency’s PV Power Systems Task 14 on high PV penetrations in the electricity grid and an invited expert for the technical reference groups of the Federal Government’s Australian Energy Technology Assessment, the Australian Energy Market Operator’s future energy scenarios planning process and, previously, the Australian Energy Market Commission’s Demand-Side Participation Review. Iain has a PhD (Electrical Engineering) from UNSW, and a M.Eng.Sc. (Biomedical) and B.E. from the University of Melbourne.